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Hi Pam –
I decided to sponsor 40 students, so I donated $185. Good luck in meeting your goal.
Michael
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Hi Pamie —
I just donated $20 — I work in education so it was especially wonderful to know that this was helping children go back to school with everything they need.
Jennifer
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Pamie –
For your records, I donated $25. Thanks for organizing this!
Allison
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Just wanted to let you know that I donated $100 yesterday. Thanks so much for doing this.
Jasmine
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Hi Pam,
This is my first time donating to your book drive, and I’m excited about participating! I gave $50.
Thanks for organizing this — I know this will be another success!
Take care,
Trish
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Dear Pam,
Just made a small donation to your wonderful book drive. You never cease to amaze me – this is such a good thing that you are doing, and I have so much respect for you, both for taking the initiative and setting this up, and for stepping up with such a generous donation yourself, to start it off.
Kancheepuram has a tremendous child labour problem, especially in the weaving industry. Giving these children what they need for an education is more than just books and plaid skirts – it is a way to help them avoid the fate of so many of their peers, and to transition from ‘child labourer’ to ‘child’. It is a very good thing that you are doing. :)
Kristin Thomas
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I donated $25 yesterday.
Nethra>
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Hey Pamie,
Just wanted to let you know I donated $10 for school supplies.
thanks,
Zer
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[Letter from one of my contacts at Asha for Education]
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Hi Pamela,
Thank you so much for helping us with this project. I appreciate you setting this up so quickly and for showing your support for the children. I will mail out the receipts in the next week to all the donors.
Thank you very much.
Chandrika
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Hi, Pamie:
I donated 20.00 to this year’s drive. Thanks for organizing this… hope married life is treating you well!
Take care,
Muffinzz
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Hi pamie –
Donated $30 today to unspecified region, fantastic cause – thanks for setting this up:)
Jess
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I just donated $50 to the Kancheepuram villages. As a mom of a little boy just starting kindergarten in the fall, I couldn’t pass this up. Giving as a group to a specific area helps make my tiny donation seem like it might do some good. Thanks for all you do Pamie.
Kimberly (who’s been reading since back in the days of the tiny wooden hand)
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Hi Pamie,
Just to let you know that my husband Eric and I donated $25, which I guess is a little under 5 and a half kids. Good work organizing this!
Jenny
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[Our Goal-Reaching Donations!]
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Pamie:
I must say, you continue to rock. If more people had your giving nature, the world couldn’t help but be a better place. I’ve been reading forever, but didn’t have the money to donate last year. I don’t really have the money to donate this year, but I just took my birthday present from my father, and passed it on to those who need it more than I do. I’m not going to ask you link my blog (which I haven’t updated in forever, anyway), but to my fledgling web business. We hope to help make the world a bit better too, through helping people find carpools. Anyway, thanks for setting up this drive. You’re my hero.
Jeff Bull
COO, SnowRides, LLC
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I just donated $30.
Thanks so much for doing this!
Rebecca
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Hi Pam-
I just contributed $75, and pushed the grand total over the $3600 mark! Woo-hoo! Thanks for picking such a great cause this year!
Grace
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Hi Pamie,
I just sent $25 off to whichever village needs it most. It’s not much to me…but to the 5.4 kids going back to school with everything they need, I guess it’s quite a bit. Thanks for giving us the chance to make a difference!
Amy F.
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Thanks so much for doing this again – when you make it so easy and break the numbers down like that, it’s impossible not to spare something. I sent $20, so that’s 5 and a half kids back to school…when I get paid again I’ll see about taking care of that half a kid, and maybe some more.
Erin
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Pamie,
I found your site through TWoP and have enjoyed reading about your life, and your love of books. Thanks, for allowing me to help such a worth while cause.
Lauren C.
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I’m so happy to be 3 weeks away from graduating at Ohio State (go Bucks!). School was so fun, I want to give others the same chance…thin college wallet be damned. I gave $20, to no specific village.
-Traci
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Hi, Pamie.
Just sent off $50 to Asha as part of this year’s drive. You made another great choice, and I hope to be able to give more in the next month. It boggles my mind to think that for less than the price of a college textbook, we can help 10 kids get back some sense of normalcy, and have all of their supplies for an entire school year taken care of.
Can you believe your initial goal was reached in 2 days? Just think of what your readers will accomplish before the Indian school year starts! Here’s hoping some of our employers will match our donations!
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: you are an amazing woman who inspires the rest of us. Thank you for all you do.
Maria
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[Maria makes a great point. See if your employer has a matching gift program. You fill out a form and they send even more cash Asha’s way, just for you being such a good person. Maria’s so smart. – p.]
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Pamie-
I’ve had $100 set aside for the Red Cross for Tsunami relief, but I like your idea better. Thanks for doing this!
Julia
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Hi, Pamie. You’re such a good girl, helping out those in need. I sent $115 their way. Wanted to help 25 kids, but the site didn’t allow dollars and cents, just dollars, so could only help 24.96 of them. Hopefully, that last .04 gets what it needs, too!
Have to tell you, I had a lot of trouble getting the site to accept my money. I dropped a line to the webmaster and he responded immediately asking if I was trying to donate for pamie.com. When I told him yes, he wrote back and asked: “Just curious: how is this drive being publicized? is it just the website or is there something happening on radio or tv too? we at asha central were a little alarmed initially at the sudden flood of donations since we were unaware of the drive so we temporarily blocked them while we investigated further.” Pamie.com readers rock!
Elle
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I only have 58 names on the donor list. But the donation site says there are over 90 donations. Don’t forget to send me an email if you want to be added to the donor list. Your name or your donation can be listed as anonymous, if you prefer.
I have to say, I tried to warn them about the potential number of donations. I didn’t want to use PayPal, because I didn’t want a part of the cash to be taken by PayPal, when we were trying to send donations to a non-profit. Plus I wanted you to be able to get tax credit for your help, and I don’t think that happens when you send something to a PayPal pool. That’s why I try to start these book drives on Fridays, so I have the weekend to sort out the initial flush of donations and get a good system going for answering your email, contacting the people receiving the donations, and staying on top of everything.
So. Day three. We’ve smashed the first goal because I’m never good at estimating money. Remember when I was doing the AIDS walk and thought I could maybe raise four hundred dollars, and you sent me to that event with over a grand raised for AIDS research? Never underestimate your compassion.
Thanks to everybody who’s already sent in some help, and thanks to those of you who are about to pitch in.